Modem mobile phones contain a multitude of new technologies and services. For most of these it is necessary for the subscriber to have a correct configuration of the phone to be able to use the new technologies and services. Such a configuration involves setting a number of parameters to correct values. The exact parameters to be set vary depending on the technology. Only for WAP, a number of specific parameters exist, such as IP-addresses and ports for WAP Gateways, disconnection times, connection type preferences, home page addresses, username and password etc. For other technologies, other parameters exist. These parameters can be stored either on the SIM card or in the phone itself.
The structure of the International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI) is defined in the standards. The IMSI is specified in IUT-T recommendation E.212. The Mobile Country Code (MCC) as well as the Mobile Network Code (MNC) and the Mobile Station Identification Number (MSIN) are contained in the IMSI. The MCC, MNC and MSIN together form the IMSI.
The MCC uniquely identifies the country that the IMSI belongs to. The values assigned to MCC have been defined by ITU-T on a global basis to guarantee this uniqueness.
The assignment of values to MNC is the responsibility of the national regulatory authorities. The values of MNC need to be unique for each MCC. Thus the combination of the MNC and MCC forms a globally unique identification for a specific network.
Network operators are then normally responsible for the assignment of the Mobile Station Identification Number (MSIN).
The actual parameters that are to be set are very technical and mean nothing or little to most subscribers. It is therefore difficult for the subscriber to correctly set the parameters. Hence, a lot of subscribers do not have correct settings of these parameters. This means that the subscribers will not be using the services or they might even think that a specific technology is useless since they could never understand how to use it.
To add to the difficulties, as well as the parameter naming, the way for the subscriber to enter the correct configuration parameters vary from phone to phone.
Having incorrect parameter settings often leads to inability to use the technology or services depending on it. Depending on which setting is faulty, the technology might be possible to use but work less than optional. This means that the subscribers will not use the technology and related services. When the subscribers do not have correct settings and thus do not use the new technologies and services, the operators are not making as much money on these services as they could and want.
Modern phones reduce the problem by having pre-defined configuration profiles that collect the parameters into a logical structure of name-value pairs for the parameters and their respective values. Since such a configuration profile already with the technologies available today can contain a large number of parameters, it is reasonable but not necessary to sub-group a configuration set into logical configuration set into a logical page with name—value pairs. Since this still does not make the purpose of the individual parameters obvious for the subscriber, additional functionality is possible. It is possible to predefine configurations sets for different operators and assign names that match the operators. The task of the subscriber is then reduced to selecting the predefined configuration profile that matches his operator or service provider.
Such a configuration profile can often be complemented with a number of predefined services, or links to services, that use the technology. Examples of such pre-defined services could be short-cuts or bookmarks to download portals for ring tones, gaming server addresses, pre-installed applications that communicate over the network etc. Having such predefined services increases the chance of getting the subscriber to start using the new technology.
However, even that final step requires some understanding from the subscriber regarding the services and technologies. The subscriber has to actively search for these profiles and realize that he is interested in this area to make the selection.